Fines for crimes to be tested statewide

The test scheme to fine some minor offenders rather than arrest them is to be unrolled across the state despite a backlog in the office responsible for processing fines.

The Police Minister, Michael Costa, said yesterday that the scheme, in which police issue criminal infringement notices instead of making arrests for minor offences, had saved almost 2000 police hours - 267 minutes per offence - since it began in September.

So far 12 of the state's 80 police area commands have used the scheme.

Mr Costa said criticisms of the scheme, that police were unable to force offenders to give them identification or submit to fingerprinting, would be addressed by legislation.

But yesterday The Newcastle Herald revealed that the new $12million centralised infringement processing bureau in Maitland was staggering under a backlog of 150,000 unprocessed fines, that some staff reported being "completely overloaded" and that the workforce had been cut from 265 to 152.");document.write("

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A NSW Auditor-General's report on the State Debt Recovery Office, to which unpaid fines are directed, last year found that over the reporting period only 32 per cent of fines for which it was responsible were recovered.

A spokesman for Mr Costa confirmed yesterday that there were "hardware and software teething problems" at the Maitland office. An urgent report on its operations is due today.

He said he did not believe extending the scheme to all 80 police commands would dramatically add to the infringement processing bureau's burden.

Mr Costa said frontline police across the state reported they wanted the scheme introduced because "massive time savings" allowed them to "pursue serious criminals".

Police figures suggest 45,000 offences were committed in NSW during 2001 which could have been covered by the infringement notices, representing potential time savings of 200,000 hours a year.

The Opposition's police spokesman, Andrew Tink, said the time it took to process a simple arrest had blown out from 30 minutes to three hours, and Mr Costa should be streamlining the process not sidestepping it.

"What you've really got is the defacto decriminalisation of crimes that are punishable by prison terms," Mr Tink said.